Berlin duo Pan-Pot announced this month that their Second State label will release their new album, The Other, in September. The duo — Thomas Tassilo and Benedix Ippenberger — also use their imprint to shine the spotlight on artists they believe in, building a tidy roster of talent in the process.

We’re extremely pleased to world premiere the pulsating closing cut “Pattern Movement” featuring Geneviève Marentette from his new EP, a dark, hypnotic and thoroughly pulsating romp. As the vocal sample on the track urges, get it!

Michael Klein’s Drawing EP is released July 31, 2015 on Pan-Pot’s Second State imprint.

Earlier this year Pioneer DJ unveiled its limited edition gold DDJ-SZ controller for Serato DJ. Only 1,000 were made available to the public and it wasn’t cheap. Retailing for €2,199 (roughly US $2,596), the controller seemed to be marketed as a vanity statement for the baller DJ who rolls like Donald Trump, a tycoon who owns a gold-plated private jet. Pioneer DJ’s fascination with gold continues as the brand has announced a warm gold model to its popular HDJ-1500 headphones series, which for the more conservative among us is available in black, silver and white.

The HDJ-1500 promises to deliver superior audio quality thanks to 50 mm drivers, rare earth magnets and 38 μm thick diaphragms, while high output levels ensure pristine sound at loud volumes. A sound chamber blocks background noise, and the lightweight build, hinged ear cups and interchangeable foam ear pads give DJs a comfortable fit, even over long periods. The HDJ-1500-N gold headphones are available in August for a measely €199, including VAT, or US $220.

Would you wear gold headphones? Perhaps the specs and product video below will help you to decide.

KEY FEATURES OF THE HDJ-1500 HEADPHONES
Available in gold, black, silver and white
50 mm driver units
Proprietary soundproofing chamber
Lightweight, rugged magnesium alloy headband and hinges
Low-resilience urethane memory foam ear pads (can be changed for HDJ-EP01 open-cup leather ear pads, sold separately)
Replaceable cable
Carrying pouch included
The HDJ-1500-N gold headphones are available from August at an SRP of €199, including VAT.

Celebrity DJ Adam Michael Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was famed for his omnivorous approach to music. His work freely blended rock (he had been a member of rock band Crazy Town), hip-hop, techno and more. Unfortunately, he became equally newsworthy in a posthumous way — having conquered substance abuse problems, he spent a big chunk of his life helping others with similar problems, but a PTSD-related relapse after surviving a plane crash resulted in his death by overdose in 2009.

Now the story of DJ AM is being told in As I Am: The Life and Time$ of DJ AM, a new documentary by award-winning director Kevin Kerslake whose many credits include crafting music videos for heavyweight acts such as Depeche Mode, The Smashing Pumpkins, Helmet, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Sonic Youth.

As I Am: The Life and Time$ of DJ AM tells not just the ending, but the entire saga of AM’s life. The film has already had its first theatrical showing, but for the self-distribution necessary to make it widely available, additional financial help is needed. There’s a crowdfunding campaign going on right now for the film, which features interviews with everyone from Mark Ronson and Mix Master Mike to Diplo and Jon Favreau, as well as never-before-seen footage of AM himself. There are some pretty intriguing, limited-edition rewards for contributors to the campaign, including signed album covers, a Banksy piece from AM’s own art collection and the replica of Thomas Bangalter’s Daft Punk costume that AM wore to a 2008 HARD Halloween event. And that’s just for starters.

The producers of the film have set a campaign goal of $125,000. Two days into their campaign they’re already at the half-way point, with over 260 fans promising their support. With so much love for AM, odds are good that fans will help this labor of love get the distribution it deserves.

Known by his musical alias JD73 (it’s short for Jazz Doctor 73), jazz/soul/funk auteur Dan Goldman lives and breathes. Boasting a resumé which includes tickling the ivories with Morcheeba, Leon Ware, TY, The Haggis Horns and members of Jamiroquai, Goldman has also remixed songs for Nightmares On Wax, Incognito, Richard Earnshaw, Cool Million and others.

This month Goldman releases Make Your Move, his follow-up to the last JD73 album, Pure Gold, and trust us when we say that it’s a feel-good funkfest of the highest order. We checked in with Goldman and asked him to talk about his favorite keyboards in his arsenal and the role they played on his new full-length.

JD73’s Make Your Move is out July 31, 2015 on Splash Music Productions.

Rhodes Mark 1 and Mark 7
Every track I write starts with one of my three Rhodes pianos. The Rhodes is the bed for pretty much every track I’ve written across my three albums — including my new album, Make Your Move. I have one piano from 1972, one from 1980 — my gigging piano — and one from 2010 with MIDI which I used on tracks including “Show Me” and “Marimba Dance” (also on the new album). The sound of a well-setup Rhodes always inspires me — just sit down, hit a chord, switch on the stereo-panning and bliss out!

Moog Voyager
My go-to studio bass machine which I’ve owned since 2004 (I use a Moog Mintaur as a more portable substitute for it on gigs). It gets used on pretty much every track I make. It’s rich, thick and organic with a stupid amount of low-end. Great for subs and more mid-rangey punchy bass too. Plus, it can really nail those classic Minimoog bass patches that I love and that are a big part of the JD73 sound — especially those killer bass sounds from Michael Jackson/Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton/Bruce Swedien Productions.

Moog MemoryMoog Plus
These are very hard to find now and fetching silly money secondhand, but I got lucky and bought mine for a steal about 10 years ago. It has a real earthy and organic quality to it with a huge sonic footprint that demands your attention! It also oozes classic ’80s string pads and synth brass but can sound wildly futuristic too. Nothing quite sounds like a Memorymoog, well, when it’s working that is — which most of the time it isn’t!

Nord Stage 2
Of all the newer ‘boards I own, my Stage 2 goes with me everywhere I gig and it gets a lot of studio/session use too. The acoustic pianos are the only sampled pianos that sit right with my music — the Bright Grand Piano features heavily on “Tripping Out” on the new album — and all the Nord piano samples sound extremely real, natural and soulful. I also love the Clavinet samples, which I often use to compliment or emulate rhythm guitars. The organs and synth/sample section are especially great for authentically dirty funk and for substituting the real instruments on gigs where it’s impractical to take my full rig.

Alesis Andromeda
This synth is a monster and a sonic chameleon! It can impersonate most of the classic analogue polysynths amazingly well — and monosynths too —but also has its own unique character. One of the most powerful yet underrated polysynths ever made, many people still don’t realise it’s a true 16-voice VCO synth powerhouse. It’s basically a self-contained modular analogue synth that can be internally re-wired and re-configured for just about any type of sound imaginable! Warm, metallic, raw, smooth and everything in between!